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Session 2: A Town Divided
THEN At a seemingly innocuous rest area, the party is beset by ghost attacks. They realize the ghost is targeting truckers--specifically one, who was evidently behind the child's death two years previous. The party burns the bones of the ghost, leaves the hit-and-run driver for the police, and continues to their destination, the Roadhouse. Their arrival at the hunter gathering place is not any more pleasant--the building has been burned to the ground. In the ashes, they find some weapons, a damaged laptop, and a briefcase. NOW In the briefcase they found buried in the wreckage of the Roadhouse, the party finds a hunter's case notes. Three seemingly unrelated phenomena, occuring in a line across the US: disappearances at a Renaissance festival in California, witch hunts in a small town in southern Illinois, and various mysterious rumours from a small town in Pennsylvania. Also in the briefcase is a notecard with a phone number (which was disconnected) and a name, Ethan Spencer. Before the party begins investigating these, however, Joe gets a call from a Sheriff Frank Clayton, requesting help in strange goings-on in his small town of Granada, Colorado. ---- The instant they arrive in the frontier town, they see the sheriff--the one who had contacted Joe--gunned down, evidently by the town preacher, one Father O'Malley. The preacher seems very shaken up by what he's done, and isn't sure what made him do it. The party visits the deputy and the arrested preacher at the town jail. They determine the preacher is not (currently) possessed, and aquire some information about the strange events: more violent crimes than usual, a strange black sand storm... And, according to one reporter Sheila Tanner (an old classmate of Danielle's), the renewal of a century-old family feud. ---- Danielle contacts Sheila, and the two have a "friendly" (read: snarky) chat about this feud story. The O'Malleys and Claytons had been at bitter odds over a land dispute a century back, and Sheila believes the feud is returning full-force. Also of note, Danielle learned that the Sheila was the niece of the Mayor, an O'Malley. Meanwhile, Alexander is visiting the local graveyard, making good friends with a six-year-old ghost girl named Autumn, while Cody and Alan check out the west side of town from whence the black smoke came. Joe, who had first made certain they would know if Sheila were possessed (which she wasn't) headed to the local saloon. There, Joe set about lying salt around the door, ignoring the strange looks of the bartender. Hearing an altercation between a couple (Dear Henry and Dear Liza), which culminated in the man drawing a gun on his wife, Joe intervened, saving the woman and snapping the man out of the trance. Interestingly, Joe saw no evidence of a demon leaving a possessed body, or any other traces of supernatural echoes in the area. He also ascertained that the man was an O'Malley, while the woman's maiden name was Clayton, lending credence to the family feud theory. The couple seemed shell-shocked after these events, and the bartender consoled Liza while a man from another table took care of Henry. Meanwhile, Joe blessed the ice in the ice machine behind the bar--again with weird looks from the bartender, but she's more concerned with other things at the moment. ---- When the party regrouped, they discussed what they had learned. Joe's research indicated that demons or ghosts could influence people like this, but a demon was the likely culprit--using existing animosities to get people to be more violent than usual. They decided to see the Mayor--or rather, Joe left a devil's trap under his welcome mat, and sat in a car to see if he left the house. The others went to bed... Only to be awakened when Joe called them, telling them something was going on at the jail. There, they found a crowd, the preacher dead, the cell door open, and the deputy (Dana Clayton) murmuring that she'd unlocked the door, let him escape, then shot him. Joe tried to offer (holy) water, but she turned to a flask of whiskey instead. She then locked herself in her own cell. The party (who were all present, by this point) herded the crowd away--only for Matt to sense danger just as a bullet whizzed by Danielle's head. Cody managed to take down the threat with a bullet to the leg, and it was revealed that the shooter was Danielle's old "friend," Sheila--who was evidently under the same influence as the others. ---- Joe and Alan returned to the stake-out, while the others waited for medical help to arrive for Sheila--the only shooting victim thus far still alive. In the morning, Joe's long night pays off--the mayor exits his house, only to be brought to an abrupt halt by the devil's trap. Joe calls for the others to join him--and Sheila calls Danielle, her timing useless, warning her about her uncle the mayor acting strangely. The party exorcises the mayor-demon--who fights it, angry, then smiles, and is successfully sent back to hell. Unfortunately, just then Matt's danger sense is triggered, as a female voice yells "NO!" Behind them stands the bartender, looking quite angry, as Alan, still in his car, texts everyone: "What about the Clayton demon?" ---- Cody shoots the woman--doing significant damage, which would likely have felled her, were she only human at the time. Matt then runs at her with the floor-mat devil's trap, tackling her and just managing to secure her--if leaving himself in harm's way at the same time. Danielle lays out a circle of salt around the two, increasing the protection in case the demon were to break free. Suddenly, Alan's car backs up--right into Alexander, who had been coming upon the scene. A mind-controlled Alan still has amazing driving capabilities, but Alexander is thankfully tough enough to survive. He's not particularly happy with his party member, however, as he tries not to get hit again. Joe tries to attract demon-controlled Alan to him, as he pulls the unconscious no-longer-possessed mayor into his home and draws a line of salt along the threshold. Meanwhile, the bartender-demon grapples Matt, ending up on top--only to leave an open shot for Cody, who blows off the back of her head. The demon exits the useless body, and attempts to enter the only available meatsuit, but fails. Matt manages to roll out of the circle of salt and completes the exorcism. Just in time--her influence over Alan wears off just as the car is careening toward the house, and the talented driver barely manages to steer and brake to avoid hitting anything--or anyone--else. ---- A dead bartender, head blown away. An unconscious mayor. Satanic symbols, circles and lines of salt, and a fair amount of destruction. The party decides it's time to leave this town, and fast. They can't leave before Alexander makes a quick stop, though. He returns to the cemetary, saying a quick goodbye to his friend Autumn. Only then does the party hit the road, making for a nerd-filled Ren fest in California, hopefully with a stop for medical attention at some point along the way. NEXT People have been going missing at a Renaissance festival. Are they just drifters, running away from mundane lives? Or is there something more sinister--even supernatural--at work? And will one of our heroes be the next to disappear? Category:Bad Company